This massive and remarkable work covers nearly every topic within biology in enough detail to give a good overview and provide a basis for further reading. Its minimum readership level is somewhat higher than that of a general encyclopedia. The title "Encyclopedia of Evolution" may put some people off; but this book is equally much an "Encyclopedia of Biology"....because 'evolution' and 'life' are one and the same thing! The two large volumes of this encyclopedia contain detailed, semi-popular- through to technical- level, articles, with an average length of several pages.
The articles are cleverly written so as to be useful to the scientifically informed layperson; if you have a modest amount of tertiary-level biology, or have been an enthusiastic reader of popular-level science magazines, you can benefit from this encyclopedia. Each article has been written by an authority in its field, and is accurate and detailed, so this reference work is also very useful to undergraduate, graduate, and professional biologists.
This encyclopedia is a remarkable achievement; it gathers together into two volumes the knowledge of large numbers of professional biologists. It achieves the Herculean task of adequately covering nearly all of biological science in a reference that is accessible at several different readership levels.
